1. Technical Field
The present application relates to surgical instruments, and more particularly, to surgical clip appliers having a plurality of clips for applying the clips to body tissues and vessels during surgical procedures.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Surgical clip appliers are known in the art and have increased in popularity among surgeons by offering an alternative to conventional suturing of body tissues and vessels. Typical instruments are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,030,226 to Green et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,431,668 to Burbank, III et al. the entirety of each of which is incorporated herein by reference. These instruments generally provide a plurality of clips which are stored in the instrument and which are fed sequentially to the jaw mechanism at the distal end of the instrument upon opening and closing of the handles at the proximal end of the instrument. As the handles are closed, the jaws close to form a clip positioned between the jaw members, and as the jaws are opened to release the formed clip, a new clip is fed from the series of clips to a position between the jaws. This process may be repeated up to and until all the clips in the series of clips have been used.
A need exists for clip applier having simplified operation using fewer components to provide a more efficient and cost effective clip applying device without diminishing functionality.